Originally Posted by FlyDave

I'm also trying to put all those steps into a macro or script, so it does it automatically or semi-automatically.

But at this moment, i don't know how to do it...

The simplest way is to create an alias for a series of commands (search Aliases in this thread and you should find something that I scripted this way). It's not the most powerful way to automate things, but for certain simple enough things it works well and is quite handy.

Thank you Montag DP !!

It has taken many and many try and re-try.. i haven't found a good manual on macro usage on Rhino, but finally here it is the alias that does what i've done manually :

! _DupFaceBorder _Pause _Offset _Pause _Pause _SelLast _FilletCorners _Pause _Pause _MakeHole _Pause _Pause _Enter

It gives the possibility to choose the inside offset distance, the fillet radius and the object that you want to empty

This software is incredible !! i've tried to learn how to use it for years without success, then Harpye has shown me the light and a whole new world was opened before me :-P

Dave:

Scripting is fun ....

My last attempt about a 4 axis simultaneous milling app for dynamically cutting pins of crank shafts..... ( just a trial .... code generator exists but not yet the file generator video is created using fixed engagement to achieve the final pin diameter ... in the real loop the mill would engage about 0.5 to 1 mm stepwise to the pins diameter ... just some parametrization )

4 Axis Simultaneous Crank Shaft Cutting with Rhino 3D (0 min 22 sec)

By the way ... Thanks for the compliment!

Using a real Spript in RVB gives you much more possibilities... you even can structure your punch trough holes by stamps or doo other weird things ... I'm still far way from beein trough with it but the possibilities and potentials are great!!! and you are able tocreate new command buttons in the menue bar doing such tasks you programed before!!!

I hope someone cane help me here i want to import a rhino file to Mastercam x3 but having a problem getting it to show up as a solid. I have tryed saving it as a stereolithography, and Parasolid but when I open it in Mastercam I dont get a solid I just get a wireframe. I hope you understand what I mean

try using a .stl from rhino

Originally Posted by roger2525

I hope someone cane help me here i want to import a rhino file to Mastercam x3 but having a problem getting it to show up as a solid. I have tryed saving it as a stereolithography, and Parasolid but when I open it in Mastercam I dont get a solid I just get a wireframe. I hope you understand what I mean

Flyb Looks pretty much familiar!!

Originally Posted by flyb

try using a .stl from rhino

That looks great. would you share how you set it up for a mold

first it is a 3D rhino model from Harpye rhino cad class,
all i had to do is use a cutting plan through the center of model then rotate two haft flat on ucs draw rectangle or polye line around haft model then extrude out then group all parts and export as .Stl i use visualmill to import and setup cutting paths.

maybe when the rhino cad class is finished and ever one is ready the group will extend the class to setup up formers and moulds if so we can go in to more detail then

rouger2525 just realized what you may be having trouble with it may be that you have the shade part switch off

Originally Posted by roger2525

That looks great. would you share how you set it up for a mold

OK not 100% Rhino but surely relevant enough...

We all know that finding a nice 3 view drawing of your favourite subject
on the internet is not the easiest thing to do. Apart from the
inaccuracies which is ususally the biggest problem (but also one you
cannot do much about) there are also some others: too much noise and fat
lines being the most common.

So I was wondering if someone could post a method on how to edit an image
in a photo program in order to remove the noise, get some thinner sharper
lines and generally prepare those drawings before importing into CAD.

Another problem one might face is that in some cases one of the views
(usually the top), is presented rotated at an unknown angle. If that's
the case what is the best way to bring it back to a convenient up-down
orientation?? Rotate it in the photo program? Or will that distort the
image? If so then maybe import it as a picture frame in Rhino and then
rotate that? Other method??

Hope I'm not asking for too much here.
Thanks.
Nikolas.

Originally Posted by n1k0l4s

OK not 100% Rhino but surely relevant enough...
So I was wondering if someone could post a method on how to edit an image
in a photo program in order to remove the noise, get some thinner sharper
lines and generally prepare those drawings before importing into CAD.Nikolas.

Have a look at the links in my post#7 & which shows a Rhino examples
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1406966

From my experience, trying to 'pre-process' rough quality or distorted jpegs/plans/scans of drawings - ie trying to clean them up or vectorize for the cad program importation is probably not the efficient way to go in the long run. May as well import them directly into the cad software as a background image since:

- cad tools give you the ability to rotate scale the image & also adjust the contrast of the image for clarity

- you can also position and scale adjust side-view to top-view etc as intersection planes which is a big step towards developing 3D models.

- make 1D or 2D distortion adjustments, example if the top view image is 100 units & the corresponding side view is 98 units, you can stretch to make it 100 & correct for issues that originated form a copier or scanner.

- you will most likely be drawing 'on top' of the background image with your own vector entities in cad, so really your eye & your mouse is interpolating over resolution jaggies & stairstepping etc. better than automated software

Recognize, the typical airplane magazine drawing or purchased plans may have started life as a human hand drawn ink & paper (scale? accuracy?), then blueprinted (distortion?) then scanned (distortion?) or picturized (distortion + resolution?). All of these factors contribute to a petty rough representation of the real thing.

Trying to vectorize drawings has its limitations, there is lots of dicsussions on this subject. Sometimes it works & sometimes you get a jumbled mess of unusable line & curve segments depending again on the base image.

/pt

pt,

Thanks for the reply.

I did try a program that would convert raster to vector some time ago and the results were pretty messy indeed. Not to deter anyone from trying though I have to admit I didn't devote too much time learning that program.

Since I don't know a thing about photo programs I was only guessing that there should be some kind of a tool or command that will allow you to define a certain tolerance and delete all the pixels below that setting, thus (still guessing here) removing unwanted noise and maybe reducing the thickness of the lines. That's what I had in mind initially.

Anyway enough with derailing this thread.
Thanks.

Hi n1kol4s (can't you just use nikolas? ;0)

In Photoshop open the levels dialog (IMAGE/ADJUSTMENT/LEVELS) then drag both left and right sliders toward the centre. Fine-tune to eliminate a mass of dark or light pixels leaving you with the detail you want.

Here's a tutorial that explains it in a photographer-context;

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/levels.htm


Bottom line with any image post-processing application is; if the image is low-res, the end result won't be great.

Chris.

Chris,

Thanks, that's what I had in mind more or less. I'll see what I can do with it; seems a little complicated at first.

Working on a project recently I needed to do some stringers. Originally I tried the classic sweep 1 rail method which in some cases worked adequately but in some others it produced some not so good looking and rather bizzare twisting stringers. So I tried something else which worked really good:
1. I intersected my object with radially spaced planes as you would normally do. I didn't offset my surfaces though to account for skin thickness. Offseting a polysurface in rhino is a pain, it won't produce good results and in my opinion should be avoided.
2. Instead I took the above intersections and extruded them normal to surface with a distance of skin thickness+length of stringer that goes into the former. So if your skin thickness is 1.5mm and you want your stringer to go 3mm into each former that would be 4.5mm.
3. I offset the resulting surfaces into solids with the desired thickness.
4. Usually your intersections from step1 run along more than one surfaces. If that's the case extrude each one normal to its respective surface, then merge the resulting surfaces into one so you can offset it at step3.
So what you're having now is a bunch of (oversized) stringers which you can use to cut notches into your formers. Now the last step would be to trim those stringers back to the desired size.
That's it. I hope I'm not telling you something you already know here and someone finds this one useful. Oh, and it's always nice to see a rhino thread back at the top.
Nikolas.

Joe Here is about the fuselages mesh - without unconsistent seams ... you may take a look on the wiremesh....